Social media has created the right platform for interacting with the consumer. How many of us as students would have loved to have our drawings to be featured in print or more so, on a notebook? Now with the power of social media and brand intent to make this come true, a nationwide campaign has been launched to source unique handmade artwork or drawings for notebook covers.

Classmate, one of India’s leading brand for notebooks and other student stationary by ITC, is hunting for new notebook cover designs from the community. The Classmate Cover Hunt is accepting original, handmade drawings from its Facebook community aged between 13 and 22 years – the age bracket that forms its main consumer segment. A video explaining the contest has also been doing the rounds on social media.

The Facebook contest is being run in phases and will have shortlisting followed by voting on Facebook to decide the final 5 winning notebook covers. Today is the last day of submission, after which 10 cover designs will be selected from each of the four zones -North, South, East, West. Out of these 40 designs, 15 cover designs will be selected by Classmate for and put up for voting on Facebook. The winners will then be decided based on uniqueness, creativity and Facebook votes.

The basic design guidelines, what can be submitted and what can’t be, has been listed out in the Terms & Conditions of the contest. This, together with the ethical guidelines form a Facebook Note in the Classmate Facebook page.

Entries can be submitted easily through the Facebook app developed for the contest. Just drag and drop your scanned or photographed artwork on the space as shown in the screenshot. Fill up the details and you are good to go. The app also features a gallery of submitted designs.

The Classmate Twitter page is also engaged in promoting the contest. The below promoted tweet got me aware of the contest, though a little late in the day.

Crowdsourcing to bond better

Students would definitely love to have their artwork on a Classmate notebook cover. What better way to bond with the target group than to offer them the opportunity to feature their designs on a product? The concept is impressive as much as is its method of selection that takes care of creativity as well as popularity.

Besides, Facebook is the right platform to reach out to this student segment, as the network has the most number of youngsters, compared to other networks. Having fan-generated content in a Facebook contest has additional benefits too – fans would happily share their designs with their friends and family on the network, apart from scouting for votes. The contest has also helped grow the brand’s Facebook fan base as it was open for fans only.

Classmate’s Cover Hunt is a neat campaign that builds and engages the online community, while instilling a sense of ‘belonging-ness’ in them. What do you think?